Female Photojournalist Gang Raped in Mumbai While Colleague Tied Up and Beaten

Police released these sketches of the five men who gang raped a 22-year-old photojournalist in Mumbai.

Police said Friday that a young female photojournalist was gang raped in Mumbai, India while her male colleague was tied up and beaten, reports The Guardian.

The 22-year-old woman, an intern with an English magazine, was working on a photo assignment on the crumbling residential buildings of former textile mill workers. When she and her coworker entered one of the buildings in Mumbai, five men confronted them, tied up her colleague with a belt and then took turns raping her.

“The woman, who is around 22 years old, had gone inside the Shakti Mills compound at about 6pm along with a young man who was carrying the cameras,” said Mumbai commissioner, Satya Pal Singh. “Five men who were inside the derelict textile mill first accused the woman’s companion of being wanted for a murder, tied him up with a belt, then took the woman aside and took turns raping her.”

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Police arrested five men in connection to the gang rape, but did not release any further details.

“Mumbai’s famous textile mill area was once one of the safest neighbourhoods in the city, with men and women working together,” said Kavita Krishnan, a women’s activist. “It’s sad that this has happened now.”

The brutal assault stirs up memories of the 23-year-old physiotherapist who was fatally gang raped on a New Delhi bus last December. The incident sparked protests in India, demanding better protection for women in a country known for its violence against them.